Alzheimer's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Alzheimer's Disease, including details on diagnosis, memory loss, heredity, treatment, medication.

Altered subcellular localization of ornithine decarboxylase in Alzheimer's disease brain.

Nilsson T, Bogdanovic N, Volkman I, Winblad B, Folkesson R, Benedikz E

Karolinska Institutet, Neurotec, Section of Experimental Geriatrics, Novum, 141 86 Stockholm, Sweden. Tatjana.Nilsson@ki.se

The amyloid precursor protein can through ligand-mimicking induce expression of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), the initial and rate-limiting enzyme in polyamine biosynthesis. We report here the regional distribution and cellular localization of ODC immunoreactivity in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brains. In frontal cortex and hippocampus of control cases, the most pronounced ODC immunoreactivity was found in the nucleus. In possible and definite AD the immunoreactivity had shifted to the cytoplasm. In cerebellum of control cases, ODC staining was found in a small portion of Purkinje cells, mostly in the nucleus. In AD, both possible and definite, the number of stained Purkinje cells increased significantly and immunoreactivity was shifted to the cytoplasm, even though it was still prominent in the nucleus. In conclusion, our study reveals an early shift of the ODC immunoreactivity in AD from the nuclear compartment towards the cytoplasm.

Published 1 May 2006 in Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 344(2): 640-6.
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